So, just as a reminder, every time we go through books,
when we finish a book, like we finish 2 Corinthians,
we're going back to Psalms, and we're just working through three Psalms at a time,
and then we'll study another book of the Bible.
I'm still undecided as to whether to go to Genesis after this,
or to go to one of the Gospels, and if it's one of the Gospels,
probably the Gospel of Luke that I'm more curious to go through.
But Psalm chapter 7, all the Psalms are great, all the Psalms are great.
Psalm chapter 7, notice in verse number 1, it says,
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust.
Save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.
So, the title of the sermon this morning is them that persecute me.
Them that persecute me, just there you can see that in Psalm,
sorry, in verse number 1, them that persecute me.
This Psalm is an analysis of persecution.
If we ever go through persecution in our life,
whether it's heavy persecution to the point of death for the name of Christ,
or whether it's just some mild persecution,
I believe there are some really key learnings that we can get at this Psalm.
So, of course, we know this life of King David constantly being persecuted.
Not all that different to the Apostle Paul.
When we read about the Apostle Paul in the New Testament,
we see that he's constantly being persecuted by those that hate the Lord.
And so, Psalm chapter 7 picks up the same concept of David being persecuted.
Now, before we get too deep into this Psalm,
I just want to see, do you all have this introduction in your Bible
where it says,
Do you all have that as an introduction?
Alright.
I was just curious, when I looked this up,
I looked at what does that word, Shigeon, mean?
Does anyone have any idea?
Anyone want to try to explain what that is?
Alright, I'm not surprised that nobody knows.
It's not an English word.
This is actually a Hebrew word that's been transliterated into English.
It's not been translated into English.
So, if you look up that word in your dictionary,
you're not going to find any definition for it.
It's not an English word at all.
Now, when I looked this up,
there's not a lot of agreement as to what this means.
It's hard to know.
Obviously, the Hebrew language was lost.
It was lost for many hundreds of years.
And even the Hebrew that's spoken today in the nation of Israel
does not line up perfectly with the Hebrew of the Bible.
The way they pronounce things,
their definitions for certain words,
may not be the way it was in the Old Testament
because the old Hebrew language was lost.
And so, this is one of the words that was, I suppose, lost.
But I think we get an idea of what it means
because this is a song of David.
This is a song of David.
Now, interestingly, if you guys are interested,
go to Habakkuk.
Turn to Habakkuk.
Keep your finger there in the Book of Psalms.
Now, this isn't really about the sermon,
but it's just a point of interest.
If you go to Habakkuk,
it's one of the minor prophets near the end of the Old Testament.
You might want to start with Matthew
and then work your way backwards
if you're not sure where that is.
But Habakkuk chapter 3
is actually a song as well.
Habakkuk chapter 3 is a song as well.
And Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 1 says,
a prayer of Habakkuk,
the prophet upon Shigeonoth.
Now, that word Shigeonoth is also not an English word.
It's also a translated Hebrew word
which is the plural form of what we saw in there in Psalm 7,
the Shigeon of David.
So, my understanding is putting these two things together.
And by the way, look at verse 19
if you're in Habakkuk chapter 3.
Look at verse 19, just the last verse of that chapter.
It says, the Lord God is my strength
and He will make my feet like hinds' feet.
He will make me walk upon my hind places
to the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
So, we see chapter 3 of Habakkuk is a song as well.
It was written to be handed to those that play stringed instruments.
So, it's assumed here that Habakkuk was a Levite
who was associated with temple service, temple worship.
That he would write songs so that those that would play instruments
and sing songs would sing this.
So, it seems like Habakkuk has taken what David wrote in Psalm 7
and writes in a piece of music that's similar.
So, it sounds like to me that it's a style of music.
It's a style of music of persecution and calling upon God for help.
And Haggai takes that same idea or that same style or that same genre of music
and applies that to his third chapter in the Bible.
So, I thought that was interesting just for you guys to be aware of.
If you look up that word, you're not going to find it in the Bible.
But it's about a style of music being persecuted
and the Lord coming through and delivering them through that persecution.
Now, go back to Psalm 7.
Psalm 7, another interesting fact of that introduction.
It says that this song was sung concerning the words of Kash the Benjaminite.
Now, that name Kash, you may be aware of it.
Kash was the grandson of Noah.
When Noah got off the ark, he had his son Ham.
And Ham was the father of Kash.
Another Kash was also known for being the father of Nimrod.
Some of you guys might be familiar with Nimrod and his historical importance in the Bible.
Well, that's not the Kash that's been spoken of here.
Okay, because that's Kash that came off shortly after the ark of Noah.
Now, this Kash that David is singing about, considering the words of Kash,
is obviously, this was many hundreds of years later,
this was a Kash that was persecuting David.
Now, it's interesting that it says the Benjaminite.
So, it's obviously after the nation of Israel was created.
And again, keep your finger there in Psalm 7.
Please turn to 1 Samuel.
Please turn to 1 Samuel,
because I want to really give you an introduction as to why this psalm was sung.
Please turn to 1 Samuel 24.
1 Samuel 24.
And many times, the songs that are sung by David in the Psalms relate to some biblical story.
Okay, so we're going to read about this biblical story here in 1 Samuel 24 verse 1.
Let's pick it up here, 1 Samuel 24 verse 1.
The Bible reads, this is a pretty popular story of King David and Saul.
So, if you remember, King Saul was persecuting King David at a point in his life.
He was trying to kill King David, right?
Because he was envious of what King David had achieved.
He did not want King David to take the throne.
He believed that kingship should follow his line,
but God had already ordained King David to take over Israel once Saul had passed away.
So, we pick up the story when King David was persecuting, sorry,
when Saul was persecuting David, and it says in verse number 1,
And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines,
that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,
and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
And he came to the sheepcoats, by the way, where was a cave?
And Saul went in to cover his feet, and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
So, King Saul seeking David goes into this cave, the Bible says, to cover his feet.
Now, there's a bit of debate as to what that means, to cover his feet.
What I believe happened here is that King Saul basically went to relieve himself,
went to the toilet, if you want, into the cave, and took off his pants,
and obviously, when you take off your pants, it covered his feet.
I believe that's what's being used here, is that he went to the toilet,
but King David and his men were hiding in that same cave, and Saul did not know about that.
So, verse number 4,
And the men of David said unto him, Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto thee,
Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand.
That thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee.
Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.
So, David's men are saying, hey, this is what God said is going to deliver the enemy into your hands.
This is your chance to kill Saul.
But instead, David cuts off a piece of garment off his robe.
Verse number 5,
And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
So, we see David is feeling guilty for doing that.
He could have killed King Saul, but instead, he just cut off a bit of fabric, and he feels guilty about that.
And he said unto his men in verse 6,
The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master.
to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.
So, David stayed his servants with these words and suffered them not to rise against Saul,
but Saul rose up out of the cave and went on his way.
David also rose afterward and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, My Lord and King.
And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself.
So, we see even though David was being persecuted, he had respect for the king of Israel, okay?
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt.
Now, just pause there for a moment. Notice what David says to Paul.
He says, Wherefore hearest thou men's words.
King Saul, why are you hearing the words of these men?
What are these men saying to King Saul? Behold, David seeketh thy hurt.
So, we see here that King Saul was hearing the words of men, was hearing rumors,
was hearing false reports that David was trying to hurt him, that David was trying to kill him,
that David wanted to destroy King Saul, and it was not true, okay?
And this is where we pick up in Psalm 7, verse number 1,
King David singing this psalm, considering the words of Cush, the Benjaminite, okay?
So, Cush here is being referred to as one of these men bringing false rumors and false reports about David,
saying that David's a wicked man, saying that David wants to hurt you, King Saul, okay?
And Cush, the Benjaminite, which I think is relevant,
because if you don't know, King Saul was a Benjaminite, okay?
And he had the loyalty of many of his own tribe, of his own family and tribe, the Benjaminites, okay?
So, I hope this gives you an idea as we enter into Psalm 7 what this is about.
Let's keep reading. Verse number 10 in 1 Samuel 24, verse 10,
Behold this day thine eyes have seen how the Lord had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave,
and some bade me kill thee, but mine eyes spared thee, and I said,
I will not put forth mine hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand,
for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not.
Know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand,
and I have not sinned against thee, yet thou huntest my soul to take it.
So, King David proves with this fabric, look, these reports about me, these rumors about me, they're not true.
Look here, I could have killed you, but instead I cut off a piece of your robe, okay?
Verse 12, and all this is relevant, keep in mind what is being said here when we get to Psalm 7.
King David says, The Lord judged between me and thee, and the Lord avenged me of thee,
but mine hand shall not be upon thee, as saith the proverb of the ancients,
Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom, dost thou pursue?
After a dead dog? After a flea? The Lord therefore be judged, and judged between me and thee,
and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.
So turn back to Psalm 7, back to Psalm 7.
We see the heart of David, the ability to kill his enemy, to kill the man that is trying to kill him.
And he says, look, I'm not going to do wickedness against you just because you're being wicked against me.
And we also see that King David, or David, calls upon God to be the judge between he and Saul, okay?
He seeks the law to do justice. He seeks the law to revenge his name being dragged through the mud.
So back to Psalm 7, now that you've got that understanding of this psalm,
it's going to make a lot more sense as we read through it.
We'll see a lot of similarities between this psalm and what we read there in 1 Samuel 24.
So let's look at verse number 1 again.
It says, O Lord my God, indeed do I put my trust. Save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me.
Okay, this is the prayer, the song of David during this time, being persecuted by King Saul.
And I've got five steps. This is about persecution.
I've got five steps for you this morning, how to handle persecution.
If you're going through persecution, these are five steps that will help you get through it, okay?
Now the first thing that we realize here with King David, step number 1,
is that he recognizes that only God can help him through the persecution, okay?
He recognizes that only God can help him.
Look at verse number 2, lest he tear my soul like a lion,
talking about those persecuting him, rendering it in pieces while there is none to deliver.
You know, David recognizes, look, there's no one else to deliver me.
There's no one that can help me from the lion or from Saul here destroying me, you know?
There's no one else but you, Lord.
You're the only one that can step in and deliver me from this persecution.
And step number 1, recognize that only God can help you with your persecution, okay?
If you're being persecuted, the first person you ought to be turning to is not the police, okay?
It's not the local church. It's not your own strength.
It's not your own army if you've got that.
David had his own army. He had his own men.
Instead, he seeks the Lord first.
He prays to the Lord and says, Lord, I'm in persecution.
Please deliver me from this persecution.
Now, there are other people that can help you in persecution.
I'm not saying never turn to the church or turn to people in leadership
that are, you know, Christian leaders or your family or...
No, but first, go to the Lord, okay?
Go to him first because he will be the one that can use these other people,
these other institutions to help you through the persecution, okay?
So, obviously, we see here David praying for physical salvation,
being physically delivered from his enemies, those that are seeking to destroy him.
That's step number 1, recognize that only God can help you through persecution.
Now, step number 2, this is probably the hardest part of going through persecution.
Step number 2 is to do a self-analysis.
Why am I going through persecution?
Could it be me? Could it be my own fault?
Could I be the one that has done wrong?
Could it be I that have done wickedness and brought persecution upon myself?
That's probably the hardest part because as Christians,
when we go through persecution, you know, we might be filled with pride
and say, well, see, I've stood up for the Lord
and now the devil is sending his forces against me.
And it's hard to turn around and say, hey, maybe it's me,
maybe it's my wickedness, maybe it's my iniquity.
Let's look at this psalm.
Look what King David says in verse number 3.
He says, oh, Lord, my God, if I have done this,
if there be iniquity in my hands, do you see the first thing he does?
Instead of blaming the persecution, the first thing he does is he self-analyses.
Is it me, Lord? Is it my fault?
Have I brought this upon myself?
Because the Lord may very well allow persecution to come into your life
as chastisement upon you, upon your disobedience.
And if you say, no, there's no chance of that, well, then you've forgotten Psalm 6.
Let's look back at Psalm 6 when we went through it.
Let's very quickly look at Psalm 6.
Again, another psalm of David, verse number 1, it says,
oh, Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy heartless pleasure.
So here in verse number 1, we see David being chastised by the Lord.
He recognizes that he had done wrong and the Lord was correct in him, right?
And then look, drop down to verse number 9.
The Lord hath heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer.
Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed.
Let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
So we see King David in Psalm 6 recognizes that his enemies had lifted themselves against him
because he had done wrong, because he was being chastised by the Lord, okay?
And once he got right with the Lord, once he confessed his sins before the Lord,
once he copped the punishment and learnt his lesson,
he knew that his enemies would go away, you know, because the lesson had been learnt, okay?
And again, because we've got Psalm 6, we can now look at Psalm 7 and recognize David's learnt this lesson.
When he's being persecuted by his enemies, it could be his own faults.
It could be his own doing. It could be his own foolishness.
And we need to recognize this, guys.
If we're being persecuted, was it you?
You know, is the Lord allowing this persecution because of your mistakes?
Is this the hand of chastisement upon the Lord and not actually coming from the devil himself, okay?
Look at verse number 4.
Sorry, did I finish verse 3? Yeah, I did.
Verse number 4.
So he's still doing a self-analysis, okay, in verse number 4.
He says,
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me, yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy.
So this is a reference here of King Saul.
He says, if I have rewarded evil, have I done evil to King Saul and to him that was at peace with me?
Because if you know the history of King Saul and David, they were once friends, right?
David stood up against Goliath, delivered Israel out of the Philistines.
You know, King David would be called upon Saul to play his harp and help Saul with his anguish and his distress.
They were once friends.
You know, even Saul's son Jonathan became best friends with David, okay?
And so David says, hey, have I rewarded the one that I used to be in peace with, with evil?
Have I done wrong to him?
And then he says in brackets there, yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy.
There's no reason for Saul to be mine enemy.
There's no cause for it.
And I have delivered him.
Remember, I could have killed him in the cave.
I could have, I struck him dead, but I have delivered that one, you know?
So Saul's just thinking about it.
Have I done wrong to him?
There's no, I've delivered him.
I could have killed him.
I could have done wrong.
I could have done wickedness.
But, you know, he's looking at his own life.
Am I the one that's done wrong?
And you don't need to turn there.
I'll just read to you from 1 Thessalonians 5, 15.
We know this very well.
The Bible says, see that none render evil for evil unto any man,
but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves to all men.
All men, okay?
Whether they're saved believers or whether they're unsaved, whether they're your enemies,
the Bible says don't render evil for evil.
If someone has done wrong to you, if someone has done evil to you,
don't return that wickedness.
Don't do evil back to them.
Hey, do good unto them.
That's what the Lord requires of us, all right?
If you want to cut up a bit of this skirt, you know, if you get the chance just to prove,
hey, I'm not your enemy.
I'm not trying to hurt you.
Then maybe do that.
But if you're like David, it's going to cause you guilt anyway, okay?
Because, you know, David had a good heart, you know?
I'll also read to you from Romans 12, 17.
Romans 12, 17.
It says recompense to no man evil for evil.
Hey, this is a clear teaching in the Bible.
Repeat it over and over.
If someone's not evil to you, don't avenge yourself.
If you're being persecuted, don't avenge yourself.
Don't do evil, okay?
But, sorry, provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Verse 18, if it be possible, as much as life in you, leave peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath,
for it is written, vengeance is mine.
I will repay, saith the Lord.
I've read this a few times.
I think it's important, okay?
If you feel the need to take revenge, no.
Do good.
Allow God to take revenge on your behalf, okay?
He will repay.
He will do it.
He promises that to us.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him.
If you first, give him drink.
Come on, how many times have you done this?
Someone that's your enemy and they have necessities.
Have you gone and fulfilled that need for them?
I can't think of a chance.
I've done that.
This is a hard saying, right?
It's easy to give drink to someone that you love, that's your friend, that's your dad, that's your father,
but to do it to your enemy, someone that wants to hurt you, that's a big ask, right?
We read these things and we think it's easy.
It's not really.
Feed him.
If you first, give him drink.
For in so doing, there shall heap coals of fire upon his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Okay?
Leave it in God's hands, okay?
Do good to your enemies.
Do good to those that persecute you.
Now, Psalm 7, verse 5.
Psalm 7, verse 5.
So, sorry, back in verse 4, just before I read that, David's ready.
He says, look, if I've done evil, all right, I deserve this persecution.
He's ready to cop his punishment.
Verse number 5.
Let the enemy persecute my soul.
This is if he's at fault.
If he's at fault, he says, look, let the enemy persecute my soul and take it.
Yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honor in the dust cellar.
Okay?
So if David had done anything wrong, he was ready and willing to receive the chastisement of the Lord,
even if that meant allowing his enemies to take advantage of him, to hurt him.
Okay?
He doesn't go around blaming others.
If it's his own fault, he doesn't blame the persecution.
He doesn't blame God.
He says, look, if I've done wrong, all right, I deserve this punishment.
Okay?
Even if it's his own honor, his own name being dragged through the mud.
If it hurts his reputation, so be it.
Take the medicine for what I've done wrong.
Okay?
And the reason he can be this way, he's saying, well, that'd be hard.
If I have the enemy hurting me, yea, but if you recognize that it's God's chastisement
and you know God is our Heavenly Father and that he loves you and he wants the best from you
and he wants you to grow mature, then this judgment is righteous.
Okay?
If the enemy persecutes you because the Lord allows it, it's righteous judgment coming from God.
That's why Dave was able to accept it.
Okay?
Because if it's me, then it's righteous that I'm being persecuted like this.
It's coming from the Lord, so be it.
Okay?
If it hurts my honor, if it hurts my name, so be it.
This is just punishment for the wrong that I may have done to my enemy.
Okay?
So step number one was a self-analysis at you at fault.
Have you done wrong?
Is God chastising you?
Now, we know the story here.
It wasn't David's fault.
In fact, David's been very kind, very good towards Saul.
Okay?
So step three, step three.
What did we see when David showed Saul the garment?
He allowed God to be the judge.
He allowed God to be the judge between him and his enemy, didn't he?
He wasn't the one seeking justice.
He wasn't the one saying, hey, this is what you need to do, Saul, to make things right.
He says, no, I'm going to allow God to be the judge between you and me.
God knows who's done wrong.
God knows who's done right.
Regardless of what Cush that Benjamin has said about me, God knows the truth.
Okay?
And this reminds me again of what we've been reading in 2 Corinthians with Paul.
Right?
Paul was like, you know what?
People have been saying wrong things about me, but I'm going to allow God to be the judge.
God knows.
And I'm going to let him be the avenger of my name being dragged through the mud.
If you remember that in 2 Corinthians.
So, you know, maybe the Lord wants us to learn.
Maybe the Lord has someone here that wants to learn this lesson.
Maybe it's me.
Right?
Not to take revenge upon ourselves, but allow God to be that judge.
Look at verse number six.
Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies,
and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
God, I want your judgment, not mine.
I want your justice, not mine own.
Okay?
And he says, look, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies.
You know, now David knows, hey, it's not me.
It's mine enemies that it's at fault.
It's my enemies that are persecuting me without cause.
I've not done anything wrong to them.
And it's calling upon God to revenge him.
Okay?
And there's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with asking God to bring vengeance upon wrongdoing upon you.
Nothing wrong with that.
We know that justice and judgment of God is right.
We know it's correct.
Okay?
But we're asking the Lord to do it on our behalf because our judgment might be wrong.
We might be tainted with, you know, certain, I don't know, maybe, you know, grief and bitterness.
And it might affect our judgment.
You know, so David calls upon God to do it, you know?
And against these false accusations, these false attacks.
And it kind of reminds me of Matt's sermon on Friday, right?
When Matt preached that the Lord holds the prayers of the saints, you know, as incense.
And then when he's going to pour out his wrath upon the earth, he looks at those prayers again.
You know, he takes in that incense once again and that fuels the vengeance.
It fuels his anger.
You know, it's the same kind of idea.
He's calling upon the Lord to be the one that steps in.
To get angry because of the rage of the enemies, right?
And that's number seven.
And look at this.
So shall the congregation of the people come past thee about.
For their sakes, therefore, return thou on high.
So David says, look God, if you judge, if you set things right against mine enemies,
then the congregation of the people, this is, you know, in general, back then Israel as a nation would come about thee.
You know, the people would be looking at you.
They see the judgment of God.
They're going to draw closer to God, okay?
And it says for their sakes, therefore, return thou on high, you know?
So the Lord's name would be proclaimed.
They would be drawn closer to God.
When God brings judgment, it's going to cause his people to draw closer to him, okay?
And of course, you know, this is about Israel, but we can apply this to the local congregation.
We can apply this congregation to the local church, to the local New Testament church.
You know, when the Lord answers our prayers, when the Lord delivers us from our enemies,
you know, when the Lord, you know, helps us through sicknesses and difficulties in our life,
it causes the children of God, the congregation, to rejoice, to praise God.
And we ought to do that, right?
We ought to do that when we see the Lord's hand, when we see him answer prayers for us,
we ought to praise him and draw closer to him.
It brings a real reality that our God is real, that our God is living,
that our God loves us and that our God hears our prayers when we call upon him.
So God's judgment is something that's going to cause us to draw closer to him.
Verse number 8, the Lord shall judge the people.
Judge my enemies? No.
It says, look, judge me, oh Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to my integrity that is in me.
Are you ready to say that?
You know, it's easy to say, God, judge my enemies.
You know, judge them.
Are you ready to say, God, judge me also?
You know, are you ready to say, God, judge me according to my righteousness?
According to my integrity that is in me?
We all know we're sinners.
We all know we do wrong.
You know, are you ready to say that to God in the moment that you're being persecuted?
But of course, hey, we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
If you're saved, you've believed in his death, burial and resurrection,
you've caught upon the name of the Lord and you're saved today,
then the righteousness of Christ has been imputed upon you.
Hey, I can approach the throne of God boldly and say,
yes, Lord, please judge me on this righteousness
and please make that the righteousness of Jesus Christ, okay?
Because I'm in Christ, okay?
And so I'm one of your children.
I'm one of your children and yes, the Lord will protect his own children, okay?
I mean, as parents, think about when people, you know,
say nasty things about you or do wrong to you, you know, it's annoying,
but you can probably just get over it pretty quickly.
But what about when they're doing it to your children, all right?
When your children are being bullied, your children are being, you know,
teased or whatever, you know, have been attacked or whatever,
it hurts a lot more, okay?
And we're the children of God.
You know, God will avenge us if people have done wrong for us.
Don't worry about it.
He's going to do it.
He promises that he's going to do it.
We don't need to step in and take matters into our own hands, okay?
So David asks, look, God, I mean, you know, once he's done the self-analysis,
my enemies are wrong, please judge them for their wickedness
and please judge me for my righteousness.
I've done right.
I've done good.
You know, we see David's got a clean heart here.
He realizes I've not done anything wrong to these people.
He says, judge me according to that, Lord.
Please reward me for the good that I've done, okay?
Please punish them for the wrong and please reward me for the good that I have done.
Verse number nine, oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the just for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reigns, okay?
So just reinforcing here that the purpose for God to judge the wicked,
is that their wickedness will come to an end.
That's number one.
And also for God to judge and for God's people to be strengthened,
to establish the just, to strengthen the just,
when we see the hand of God fall upon the wickedness of this world, okay?
Now it says here, the Lord trieth the hearts and reigns.
Now I'm going to ask just anybody, feel free, even the ladies,
does anybody know what that word means, reigns?
R-E-I-N-S.
Just give me your best guess, yeah?
Horse reigns, yeah.
I mean, it's not the answer, okay?
But when I used to read this, that's exactly what I used to think, right?
Because it happens quite a few times when you're talking about judging the heart and the reigns.
And I used to think, you know, okay, God, please judge my heart and also the reigns.
So yeah, like you're riding a horse and you're holding onto the strap, I guess, that's the reign.
And you can direct the horse which way it wants to go.
And I used to think that's what it meant, that God, you know, please judge my heart
and also take my heart by its reigns and sort of see how it is.
That's what I used to think.
Now I'll get you to hold your finger there.
Just go back one book to the book of Job.
Go back to the book of Job, chapter 16.
And we'll look at the first mention of this word, reigns in the Bible, the first mention.
Job, chapter 16, Job, chapter 16, Job, chapter 16, verse 11, Job, chapter 16, verse 11.
Give me one more moment there.
Job, chapter 16, verse 11.
These are the words of Job.
Look what he says to you in verse 11.
God has delivered me to the ungodly.
By the way, do you see there that God sometimes allows someone to be delivered to the enemies, to the wicked, to the ungodly?
God has his own purposes for whatever reason.
Job went through this as well.
And then he says,
So we know, of course, Job went through a lot of suffering, a lot of problems when he was being persecuted by Satan, but being allowed by God for that to happen to him.
Now, he's using, I guess, poetic or illustrative language.
Obviously, God did not break or shake him to pieces, like his neck or anything like that.
Look at verse 13.
That word gold comes from the goldbladder.
Now, what the rains are, it's an old English word for your guts, for your intestines, for your liver, for your goal, your guts.
Now, look at verse 13 again.
It says,
It's funny about this word in English.
The two meanings are the complete opposite.
To cleave is to join together.
That's one way.
For a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife.
But cleave also means to separate, to tear apart.
The total opposite.
So when it says here,
This is figurative language.
This didn't really happen to him.
But he says,
It's glory language here.
But I just want to show you that the word rains actually means your guts.
Now, back to Psalm 7.
So when he says in verse 9,
Now, we still use that language today.
We use similar terminology.
We might say,
Now, everyone's got guts.
But when we're saying they've got guts, what are we saying?
They're very courageous.
They've got a lot of inner strength.
They've got guts.
Or you might say,
What are you saying?
My gut feeling is telling me this.
I'll go with that.
You haven't really got any facts to go with it.
But it's just your innermost being is telling you something.
And I'm going to go with that.
Your instincts, if you will.
Or you might say,
Boy, that was a kick in the guts.
What are you saying?
Someone's hurt you.
Someone's done something.
That doesn't really stab you in the guts.
But it hurts so much.
It hurts so much in my inner being.
It was like a kick in the guts.
We still use that kind of terminology today.
And that's what basically David is talking about here in Psalm 7.
He's saying,
Look, God, try my heart and try my guts.
My innermost being.
Know me deep down.
Because I think he realizes that when he looks at himself,
he's not going to be able to judge his own heart and his innermost correctly.
He asks God to do it.
He asks God to step in and let the wickedness come to an end of the wicked.
But also try me.
See if there's wickedness in me.
Please check my heart out.
Check my innermost being.
Because when pride hits,
when we're filled with pride,
it's hard to blame ourselves.
There might be issues within us.
There might be problems within us.
And we can deceive ourselves.
That's what pride is.
We deceive ourselves.
We lie to ourselves.
And we can't see the problems within our own selves.
We see it with everyone else.
But David's willing,
Look, God, I might be filled with pride.
I might not be able to judge myself properly.
I need you to step in here.
Try my heart.
Am I genuine, Lord?
Am I serving you, Lord?
Am I doing right?
And he asks God, please look deep into me.
Look into my deepest emotions,
my deepest thoughts,
and my deepest motives.
Am I doing this to serve the Lord?
Or am I doing it to serve man?
Verse number 10.
Psalm 7, verse 10.
My defense is of God,
which saith the upright in heart.
So, you know, if God is your defense,
you don't need to worry.
In a sense, God is my defense.
Now, I'll just use a sports analogy.
You know, when you play sports,
you basically have two ways of playing.
You've got defense and you've got offense, right?
Offense, normally you're trying to score goals
or something, points.
And defense, you're trying to prevent those points
or goals being scored upon you.
Now, I'll just use the analogy of soccer, okay?
If I had God as my goalkeeper,
if I had God as my defense,
do you think I'd be worried
about the enemy scoring goals?
If God was my defense, no.
What would I be concerned with?
If I knew God was defending me,
I'd be concerned with the offense, right?
I wouldn't be worried about,
hey God, have you got it under control?
No, I'd be like, God's got it, you know?
So I'm gonna worry about the offense.
I'm gonna move forward, all right?
And so the same principle is here, guys.
You know, if you're being persecuted
and you know God's gonna step in and defend you,
then you don't need to worry about defending yourself.
You don't need to go into defense.
God's got it covered.
Let him take care of it.
He's a better goalkeeper than you are, okay?
Let him take care of it.
If you're worried about it,
it's gonna prevent you from going forward.
It's going to stop you from being positive.
It's gonna stop you from serving the Lord
if you're so worried about defense.
God's got it covered.
You go and score points.
You go and serve the Lord.
You go and earn rewards in heaven.
You know, if you've done right,
if you've done right, then God's got it covered.
Don't worry about it, okay?
Don't waste time defending yourself.
Spend your time doing greater things for God.
Look at verse 11.
God judgeth the righteous
and is angry with the wicked every day.
Every day God is angry with the wicked.
Now, most preachers don't want to talk about this.
They don't want to talk about God being angry, okay?
Because, you know, we only want to talk about God being love.
And God is love.
God is merciful.
God is long suffering and God is love.
Amen.
But he's also an angry God.
He's also a God that's angry with the wicked every day.
Every day.
Guys, ever since Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord,
every day for the next 6,000 years,
God has been angry with the wicked, okay?
Angry with the sinners.
And, of course, he has great love,
which is why he sent Jesus Christ
to come and die on the cross for us, okay?
We don't ignore that as well.
But, you know, God is judging mankind on a daily basis, okay?
Now, I just thank God I've got Christ imputed righteousness upon me.
Because I know I do wicked things.
I know I do wrong.
I know I still sin in this life, okay?
We're trying to overcome that.
We're trying to turn from those wicked things and live holy.
You know, we all should be on that journey trying to do that.
But if God were to really judge you for your wickedness every day, boy.
You know, thank God for Jesus Christ.
Thank God that he came in and paid the penalty for my sins.
But notice that God does not get used to wickedness.
He does not get used to sin.
It's not like 6,000 years later, God's like, you know what?
Ah, everyone's wicked.
I'm just going to, all right, I'll just deal with it now.
No, he's still angry every day, okay?
And if God is still angry at wickedness,
if sin still bothers God, then we ought not to get used to it, guys.
We ought not to get used to wickedness, all right?
You might have a pet sin that you're struggling with
and you might be doing that sin every day or every week or whatever,
something that you're constantly struggling with.
You're going to get to a point where you're like, well, that's just me.
No, God is angry with the wicked every day.
You ought to be angry with your sin every day as well if you're a child of God,
if you're trying to be more godly,
if you're trying to be more like Jesus Christ.
Hey, don't get comfortable with your sins.
Don't get comfortable with the wickedness of this world, okay?
You know, the world's not going to change, so I'll send my kids to whatever,
and it's full of wickedness.
It's full of blaspheming in the name of God.
No, don't get used to it.
God's not getting used to it.
God still hates sin.
You ought to be the same way.
You ought to reflect God, okay?
It's easy to get used to wickedness.
It's easy to get used to sin, but that's not how it ought to be.
Verse number 12.
If he turn not, he will wet his sword.
He have bent his bow and made it ready.
I'll try to speed up a little bit now,
but verse number 12, the first he is the persecutor, the wicked person,
okay, that we saw in verse number 11.
You know, God is angry at the wicked every day.
The first he here in 12 is talking about the wicked person.
So it says if he, the wicked person, turn not, all right?
So what that means is if they continue on this path of wickedness,
if they continue on this path of persecuting God's people,
you know, the innocent, then it says he, speaking of God,
God will wet his sword.
What does that mean?
It means God will sharpen his sword.
He have bent his bow.
God is not going to get his bow ready and made it ready, okay?
Verse 13.
He also, sorry, he have also prepared for him the instruments of death
and ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
So God gets his arrows for his bow, points them to the persecutors.
He starts sharpening his sword.
But notice in verse 12 it says if he turn not
because we have indeed a long-suffering God, a merciful God, okay?
Even the wicked get a chance to make things right, okay?
God doesn't come straight down and destroy them.
He gives them a chance to turn.
He gives them a chance to say sorry and apologize
and make things right, okay, before he comes down with judgment.
So we see while they're doing wrong, while they're doing wickedness,
while they're persecuting God's people,
while King Saul is persecuting David, God is just patiently sharpening his sword,
getting his bow ready, got his arrows pointed ready,
just in case you don't turn, I'm ready to go, okay?
But you see, God's not in a rush.
He's got perfect timing.
You know, God will unleash his anger and his wrath in due time, in due time, okay?
God is long-suffering and we don't like that.
We like God being long-suffering with us,
but we don't like God being long-suffering with our enemies, okay?
But just know, know that he's preparing the weapons to attack the enemy, okay?
Now this brings us to step number four, step number four.
Wait for the Lord.
Wait for the Lord to unleash his judgment at the right time, okay?
God hasn't ignored your cries for help.
God has not ignored the persecution that's come your way.
He's just getting ready, getting ready and giving them time, okay?
And if he gives them more time and they're still wicked
and they're still persecuting you,
they're just storing up the wrath of God even more.
It's going to come down even stronger, okay?
So don't worry about it, just wait.
Wait for the Lord's timing to come and protect you,
to deliver you from the hands of your enemies.
Look at verse 14.
Speaking of the wicked here,
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity.
He hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood.
Okay, so it compares here to a pregnant woman going through labor
that the persecutor goes through kind of labor pains of his own,
but of his own doing, okay?
It's his own iniquity.
It's his own sinfulness.
He conceived mischief, right?
He's a problem child.
He has problems wherever he goes and brought forth falsehoods.
He lies against the truth.
These are things that God will bring justice and judgment upon.
This is the kind of persecution that will come from the Lord to deliver you, right?
People that have done you wrong, people that have caused you problems,
people that have lied about you, you know,
God will, as we'll see, God will cause their own wickedness to fall upon them.
Look at verse 15.
God made a pit, speaking about the persecutor.
So the one that's trying to hurt you, your enemy, the persecutor has made a pit.
He's dug a hole in the ground, hoping that you would fall in it, okay?
Hoping that others, that God's people will fall into this pit.
He says he made a pit and digged it, but look at this.
And he's fallen into the ditch, which he hath made.
God sometimes just allows the wicked to destroy themselves, okay?
And it's sort of this sense of justice when you see their devices for evil
and they've been hurt by their own wickedness, okay?
You know, I won't go into it all now.
Okay, look at verse 16.
His mischief shall return upon his own head.
His own mischief, the own problems he was making are going to fall upon him.
And his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
Now again, anybody, what does that word pate mean?
Pate, P-A-T-E.
Head, yeah.
It's actually defined there in the own verse, right?
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and just to repeat it again,
shall come upon his own pate.
What pate actually means is your scalp.
It's the top of your head, okay?
Look at verse 17.
So now we've waited on the Lord.
The Lord has brought judgment upon the wicked.
In this case, he has caused the wicked to fall by their own sword,
by their own wickedness, okay?
That's how God brought judgment upon them.
But verse 17, and this is so important.
Once God has taken revenge on your enemies,
once God has delivered you out of the hands of your enemies,
we are to praise God.
We are to praise the Lord, okay, in persecution.
Look at verse 17.
I will, I will, I will praise the Lord
according to his righteousness, okay?
Because once God has judged the wicked,
we know it's been done in his righteousness, okay?
Now you might say, God, I wanted it to be harder.
I wanted you to hurt them more.
Hey, don't worry.
Praise God in his righteousness.
His justice, his judgment, his punishment is just, okay?
It's righteous.
Now your judgment might not be righteous, okay?
So if God carries out punishment and you're not happy with it,
hey, that's, let go of it.
Let go of your bitterness and just praise God
that through his righteousness he's taken revenge for you.
Praise God that he has listened to you.
How does he praise him?
Look at verse 17.
And we'll sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
This was the memory verse.
I wanted to preach about singing praises in the face of persecution.
We're going to look at that in verse number nine a little bit more.
But again, guys, this is going to get you through persecution, okay?
This is what's going to get you through persecution,
not dwelling on your enemies,
not stressing about the persecution.
What's going to get you through it is remaining positive.
What's going to get you through it is praising the Lord, okay?
Thank you, Lord, for the persecution that's come my way.
And once he delivers you from it,
thank you, Lord, for delivering me out of it, okay?
Even in persecution is a time to rejoice and sing, okay?
Become acquainted with singing, okay?
I'm not saying singing, you know, top 10 MTV songs, you know what I'm saying?
Get acquainted with singing praises of God.
Get acquainted with the Psalms.
They're full of songs.
Get acquainted with our hymn book.
Lots of praises and songs that you can sing unto the Lord, okay?
And when you're stressed and when you're worried
and you're going through difficulties, praise God.
Sing praises to God.
It's going to help you get through those tough times, okay?
And look, never get to a point.
And I was like this as a child.
I guess I'm speaking to the children here.
Well, I was going to a traditional church, singing the old hymns,
and I was going to a school that was singing all the fancy, you know,
heel song music that were very shallow, okay?
But they were fleshly.
They appealed to my flesh.
And I enjoyed that kind of music even though the doctrine
and the teaching of those songs was so shallow
that anybody could sing those songs.
They were like love songs to your girlfriend, okay?
And when I got to church and I would sing these old hymns,
though they were full of doctrine, though they were full of truth,
though they were full of praise to God, I was like this is boring.
You know, I'd rather sing those other fleshly songs.
No, look, never get to a point where these old hymns become boring to you.
Hey, they're full of praise.
They're full of doctrine to God, okay?
Get acquainted with these songs.
You know, try not to be late to church.
You know, never get to the point where you're like,
well, you know, we know Kevin starts preaching about 20 minutes
into the church service.
We'll come in 20 minutes late and miss the song service.
No, you know, it says here in verse 17, I will praise the Lord.
This is something that we need to be doing.
We need to be singers.
We need to, you know, it doesn't matter if you've got a bad voice.
It doesn't matter if you don't have a strong voice.
Learn to sing praise to God.
This is one sure way to praise in the name of the Lord Most High
as we see here.
Let me read to you quickly from Matthew 5, 10.
The Bible reads the words of Jesus.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So you're blessed when you're persecuted.
You're blessed by God for righteousness' sake, okay?
Why?
Because theirs, yours is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
Jesus says, hey, you're blessed.
You're like, no, God, I'm being cursed.
No, you're being blessed, all right?
When you're being persecuted for righteousness,
when you're being persecuted for the sake of Christ.
And then it says in verse 12, rejoice, rejoice and be exceeding glad.
Why?
Why should I be glad when I'm being persecuted?
For great is your reward in heaven,
for so persecuted are they the prophets which were before you.
This book is full of persecution.
This book is full of persecution for God's people.
And if you're being persecuted for the name of Christ,
hey, you're being numbered against these prophets.
You're being numbered against these great men of God
and you're earning rewards in heaven.
That's something to be happy about.
That's something to rejoice in.
Eternity forever in heaven, great rewards,
and you're worried about this temporary persecution in this world.
You know, when we compare these two things,
I think we realize we'd rather have those rewards in heaven
because that's forever.
It's eternal, eternal, right?
It's eternity.
So in conclusion, guys, in conclusion,
the five steps of going through persecution.
Number one, recognize that only God can help you through persecution.
Number two, do a self-analysis.
Is it chastisement from God?
Have you done wicked?
Are you wrong?
Number three, allow God to be the judge between you and your enemy.
Number four, wait on the Lord to unleash judgment, okay?
And number five, praise the Lord in persecution.
Okay, let's pray.